


Family quarrel

by j520j



Category: Don't Starve (Video Game)
Genre: Face Punching, First aid cares, Fluff and Angst, Guilt, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-28
Updated: 2020-10-28
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:20:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27247174
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/j520j/pseuds/j520j
Summary: The events in this fic take place right after the Return of Them - Forgotten Knowledge trailer, from 22th of October.
Relationships: Maxwell & Winona
Comments: 2
Kudos: 21





	Family quarrel

“Charlie! Ah... CHARLIE!!! ” Winona shouted, taking more steps toward the center of a cave-in than would be advisable.

Her sister, her baby sister was just a few feet away from her. After so many years she was finally there, close to her! But... now she was entering the shadows again. _No, not again!_ the woman thought, reaching out and taking another step forward.

And then, she felt a cold hand grab her arm and pull her in the opposite direction. She turned abruptly and saw Maxwell. His long, pale fingers wrapped around her arm in a tight grip as he ran toward the exit. She would be able to break that hold, if she wanted to. Fuck, the magician, despite his height, was almost as fragile as a child.

A stone that fell very close to her made her change her mind. The cave was coming down and they had to escape.

The three managed to retreat to the safe part of the cave. Panting, they were still trying to understand what had happened.

"Ah... that structure..." Wilson was the first to speak. A smile on his face, the only smile in that whole place. “I think we made an excellent discovery! We just need to come back here later, better prepared and... ”

"Charlie..." Maxwell murmured, his long body hunched forward and his hands on his knees, still catching his breath. "Charlie was there."

Ah, it would have been better for him not to open his mouth. That simple sentence was enough for Winona to lose control.

The magician didn't even see where the punch came from, falling to the floor like a broken stalactite. Wilson took a few seconds to understand what was going on.

"It's your fault!" the woman screamed, clenching her fists and kneeling over the Englishman, punching him further. The fury she held back for weeks, months, finally overflowing. “It's all your fault, you bastard! Charlie entered the shadows... again! It's your fault!"

"Winona, stop!" Wilson exclaimed. He tried to hold on to the handywoman, but even he wasn't strong enough for that. “Stop, you're going to kill him! Stop!" she didn't stop and he tried another approach. "Shit... you're just going to waste a meat efigy!"

The information that this situation would only waste precious resources for the camp made her stop, not the fact that she was about to end a companion's life with her own hands. She stopped, looking at the man lying before her. The left eyebrown and the upper lip cut, pouring blood.

"Maxwell?!" the scientist knelt beside him, examining the damage. “Fuck, Winona! You turned his lights off!”

"I... uh..." the woman stammered. "Sorry! I just, I...”

“Apologize to him when he wakes up. Now, we better get Maxwell to the base.”

Before Wilson thought about lifting him, Winona was ready for the task. She carried the tall man on her back all the way out of the caves. When they emerged, the sun was shining, which was a good sign. They had already wasted almost all of his light sources.

"Uhmmm..." the magician started to wake up at this moment. His wounded face rested on the woman's shoulder. "... Ch-charlie...?"

"No." Winona said, narrowing her eyes as she remembered her sister and the unwarranted violence she had committed. “Hold on there, Maxy. We are going back to camp.”

The tall man grunted, closing his only eye that he could keep open. The three soon returned to the base. The other survivors were not surprised to see Maxwell being carried by someone, as they were already used to the magician's fragility. Sometimes he didn't have enough time to summon his puppets or his shadow armor and that sort of thing happened. Normal.

Winona placed the man inside the tent made especially to treat the sick and wounded. The scientist soon started picking up the first aid items he left ready for occasions like this.

"Hey, let me handle this." said the handywoman, with an expression of guilt.

"Are you sure?" Wilson asked doubtfully. He looked concerned.

“Hey, I was the one who hurt him. Let me handle this. I am no stranger to injuries caused inside a factory, and some can be as gruesome as some that occur here at Constant. Furthermore, I know that you want to immediately start studying the new items that we found in the cave.”

"Hmm." the shorter man looked towards the magician. He sighed and nodded, allowing the woman to take care of him.

When Wilson came out of the tent, Winona began to heal Maxwell’s injuries. She cleaned them with water and a rudimentary antiseptic that they managed to manufacture. The magician had bled a lot (eyebrows always bleed a lot) but he didn't seem to be in danger or anything. She looked over her shoulder and noticed that there were bloodstains from the magician on her blouse and boiler suit. She would take care of that later. Or maybe she left it there, as a reminder of not doing that again.

Despite everything that had happened, she couldn't say that she hated Englishman. No more. The first time she saw him she yelled at him, almost punched him. That first meeting had been the most furious moment of her life, but she still managed to hold herself together so as not to hurt him. Maybe she was just tired at the time, after surviving weeks alone in that crazy place.

But seeing Charlie again... it hurt. And seeing her go away again hurt her even more. It was at that time that she realized she was not as pragmatic as she would like to believe. She still had unresolved feelings inside her, a deep hurt, a heated fury, a creeping need, among other things.

Looking at the magician's face, now swollen and bruised, only made Winona feel worse. Despite everything he had done the handywoman knew, better than anyone, that he was struggling to repair his mistakes. Yes, Maxwell could still be arrogant, bossy, irritating with his British sarcasm and a pain in the ass, but he was also a practical man. And it was certainly very useful for the camp to prosper that way.

And, as strange as it seemed, he needed to be protected. Heck, he was the only one there who knew about shadow magics. And what did Winona do? She almost killed him, when it was supposed to be preserving him. She almost threw away the best chance everyone had there to get home.

 _Great job, Winnie... wow, you're amazing_. the woman thought, frowning as she stitched up the wound on the magician's eyebrow. He squirmed. "Sorry." she asked. And that would be just the first of several excuses she would have to make.

She bandaged the magician's forehead and then took the ointment to apply the purple marks on his face. She hit him primarily there, so there was no need to look for other injuries on the rest of the body. However, she remembered that before the three saw Charlie, the magician had already received some blows from the cave creatures.

Carefully, she opened the man's shirt, exposing his lean torso. There were a few purple marks, but they didn't seem very worrying. She started rubbing the ointment over his skin, her fingers outlining the bones and thin muscles. Winona knew it was his natural build, but she always thought the magician was malnourished. It wasn’t what his eating habits indicated, though.

"I'll get you something to eat." after care, Winona closed the buttons on the magician's shirt.

Maxwell just shook his head slightly. "I’m fine."

"No, you’re not." she said, her voice still full of remorse.

The Englishman sighed and opened his right eye.

"It was going to happen sooner or later." he said, bringing his hand to his upper lip, which was still slightly swollen. “You have held yourself well all this time. And it's not like I don't deserve those punches... and many others ”

"Idiot. Hurting you is not going to make things better.”

"True, but a crime cannot go unpunished."

Winona bit her lip. Yes, maybe Maxwell deserved a punishment for everything he did, but not now. They could think about it after they returned to Earth. The handywoman was not a judge, nor did she pretend to be. Furthermore, it’s not as if the magician had escaped with impunity all this time.

"You already punished yourself too much." she said at last. "I know that, more than anyone, you've already given yourself a hard time."

The magician opened his mouth to answer, but fell silent. He took another breath and closed his eye. It was possible to see in his tired expression, with expression marks made by pure remorse, that he was his worst judge.

“Well, I need to go. I'll get water and food for you, anyway.” she took a blanket and covered the magician's lean, vulnerable shape.

He cuddled comfortably on the straw mattress, his expression softer when he felt his body being heated. Winona smiled, it was rare to see that set of scary facial features of his take such a smooth, almost sweet shape.

 _Poor sod._ she thought. Despite everything, he still deserved compassion. Winona was sure that if her sister was here, even after everything he did, she would still try to comfort him.

And it was thinking about it that she kissed him on the cheek, in a part that wasn't hurt.

That made the magician's eyes widen, including the one who was hurt. His expression was astonished.

"Uh..." the woman soon realized what she had just done and scratched the back of her neck. "I-I think Charlie would have done that, at that point." she said, embarrassed.

"Oh... yeah, I think so." he murmured, uncertain.

Quickly getting up to avoid another awkward moment, Winona left the tent. She would ask someone else to bring food and water to the magician later.


End file.
